Attract Butterflies to your Garden

Attract butterflies to your garden with late summer blooms -asclepias (butterfly weed), Buddlia (butterfly bush), Heliopsis, and Helenium.

Butterfly Garden Necessities:

*Plant native flowering plants - Dense "clusters" of small flowers such as zinnias, marigolds, tithonia, buddleia, milkweeds, verbenas and many mint family plants generally work well. Because many butterflies and native flowering plants have co-evolved over time and depend on each other for survival and reproduction, it is particularly important to install native flowering plants local to your geographic area. Native plants provide butterflies with the nectar or foliage they need as caterpillars and adults. Adult butterflies may accidentally mistake a non-native, invasive plant for a good egg-laying site, which could prevent the survival of its offspring. Grow your nectar-producing native plants in sunny areas that are protected from strong winds. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center has lists of recommended native plants by region and state.

*Plant type and color is important – Adult butterflies are attracted to red, yellow, orange, pink and purple blossoms that are flat-topped or clustered, and have short flower tubes.

*Plant good nectar sources in the sun - Your key butterfly nectar source plants should receive full sun from mid-morning to mid-afternoon. Butterfly adults generally feed only in the sun. If sun is limited in your landscape, try adding butterfly nectar sources to the vegetable garden.

*Plant for continuous bloom - Butterflies need nectar throughout the adult phase of their life span. Try to plant so that when one plant stops blooming, another begins.

*Say no to insecticides! - Insecticides such as malathion, Sevin, and diazinon are marketed to kill insects. Don't use these materials in or near the butterfly garden or better, anywhere on your property. Even "benign" insecticides, such as Bacillus thuringiensis, are lethal to butterflies (while caterpillars).

*Feed butterfly caterpillars. - If you don't "grow" caterpillars, there will be no adults. Bringing caterpillar foods into your garden can greatly increase your chances of attracting unusual and uncommon butterflies, while giving you yet another reason to plant an increasing variety of native plants. In many cases, caterpillars of a species feed on only a very limited variety of plants. Most butterfly caterpillars never cause the leaf damage we associate with some moth caterpillars such as bagworms, tent caterpillars, or gypsy moths.

*Provide a place for butterflies to rest – Butterflies need sun for orientation and to warm their wings for flight. Place flat stones in your garden to provide space for butterflies to rest and bask in the sun.

* Give them a place for puddling – Butterflies often congregate on wet sand and mud to partake in "puddling," drinking water and extracting minerals from damp puddles. Place coarse sand in a shallow pan and then insert the pan in the soil of your habitat. Make sure to keep the sand moist.

Common Butterflies and the Plants they Eat

* Acmon Blue - buckwheat, lupines, milkvetch
* American Painted Lady - cudweed, everlast
* Baird's Swallowtail - dragon sagebrush
* Black Swallowtail - parsley, dill, fennel, Queen Anne’s lace, common rue
* Cabbage White - members of mustard family
* Coral Hairstreak - wild black cherry, American and chickasaw plum, black chokeberry
* Dun Skipper - sedges, grasses including purpletop
* Eastern Tiger Swallowtail - wild black cherry, ash, tulip tree, willow, sweetbay, basswood
* Giant Swallowtail - prickly ash, citrus, common rue, hoptree, gas plant, torchwood
* Gray Comma - gooseberry, azalea, elm
* Great Purple Hairstreak - mistletoe
* Gulf Fritillary - maypops, other passion vines
* Henry's Elfin - redbud, dahoon and yaupon hollies, maple-leaved viburnum, blueberries
* Monarch - milkweeds
* Painted Lady (Cosmopolite) - thistles, mallows, nievitas, yellow fiddleneck
* Pygmy Blue - saltbush, lamb's quarters, pigweed
* Red Admiral/White Admiral - wild cherries, black oaks, aspens, yellow and black birch
* Silver-spotted Skipper - locusts, wisteria, other legumes
* Spicebush Swallowtail - sassafras, spicebush
* Sulphurs - clover, peas, vetch, alfalfa, asters
* Variegated Fritillary - passion flower, maypop, violets, stonecrop, purslane
* Viceroy - willows, cottonwood, aspen
* Western Tailed Blue - vetches, milkvetches
* Western Tiger Swallowtail - willow, plum, alder, sycamore, hoptree, ash
* Woodland Skipper - grasses
* Zebra Swallowtail - pawpaw

Reminder: Cut Back Spirea For 2nd Blooming

Now is the time to prune back spirea shrubs to promote a 2nd blooming- 'magic carpet' pictured above, is a dwarf spirea and one of Victoria's favorites. We use hedge shears and give the spirea shrub a "hair-cutt" - just trimming off an inch or so, or more to creat a compact shape. (The exception to this is the 'Bridal wreath' spirea, which blooms in early spring and should be cut back in the same way forsythias are cut back.)

You can also do nothing to the spirea - they may not bloom as fully again, but they will flower just fine next year. This is one plant that thrives on neglect.

"Spirea" Bushes: Meaning Behind the Name:
In English, we have dropped the first "a" in the Latin genus name, Spiraea, to arrive at "spirea." But the Latin name, too, has some history behind it. The name derives from the Greek, speiraira, which had been a plant that the Greeks used to make garlands. That name, in turn, is based on the Greek, speira (coil, twist, wreath), from which we derive the word "spiral" (one twists or "spirals" plant material around itself in order to make a garland). So if you've ever wondered if spireas have anything to do with spirals, the answer is yes (in terms of etymology) and no (in terms of how we use spirea bushes today).

The Green Wall: Victoria gardens vertically

Driving by the store lately, you may have spotted Victoria high up on scaffolding in the front of the building. What is she doing up there?
Well, she has been planting Victoria Gardens’ very own greenwall around the door of the front porch. Wayne Wadell engineered the soil-filled panels that surround the entrance and the automatic drip-watering system hidden within. Once the panels were installed, cold-hardy sedums and sempervivums (Hens and Chicks) were planted into every other square on the grid. The tiny plants are already growing and quickly filling up the empty spaces.







This type of panel could also be free standing, like a fence panel and could be planted on both sides. This application would be particularly useful when hiding an air-conditioner unit, where airflow needs to be maintained. The planted panel will literally “breath.” We learned so much installing our own greenwall, and the possibilities of this application are endless. Once you’ve gardened every square inch of your yard, you could always garden vertically!
Stop by and see the wall for yourself!



We will be hosting an official unveiling party for the new green wall on Sunday, August 29th from 2pm to 5 pm.

We will have information available on our process and the varieties of plants we used. Cheryl Alloway, garden professional and Master Gardener, will be our guest speaker on the various aspects of vertical gardening from around the world.

We will serve refreshments and be available to answer all your questions.

And we will be giving out special party favors to the first 50 guests - walk away with a “piece” of the wall!

Deer-resistant Late Summer Bloomers

At Victoria Gardens we know what a challenge deer can be in the Mid-Hudson Valley. We have a deer-resistant section in our rock-top nursery to make choosing plants you love, but the deer won’t – ornamental grasses, Crocosmia, Monarda, ‘Rozanne’ Geraniums, Balloon Flowers, coreopsis and so much more.

'Quickfire' Hydrangea

Hardiness: USDA Zone 3-8

Bloom Color: White flowers transform to rich, deep pink.

Bloom Time: Mid-summer; about a month before other paniculata varieties, not affected by pH.

Foliage: Green

Fall Color: Green with a tinge of yellow. Sometimes a reddish-purple color.

Size: 6-8 feet tall at maturity, 3-5 feet wide

Exposure: Full sun to partial shade

Soil: Prefers good, loamy soil. Most adaptable of all hydrangeas to different soil types. Most urban tolerant and very difficult to kill.

Pruning: Prune to maintain a desired size or to remove any wild branches. Best if done in late fall or early spring. Blooms on new wood. Make sure to prune off spent flowers when they turn brown. Very tolerant of hard pruning, in fact cutting the plant back from 1/2 to 1/3 will result in larger flowers.

Watering: Medium moisture. Not as water dependent as Hyd. Macrophylla. Will tolerant drought.

Wildlife: None

Type: Deciduous

Fertilizing: Fertilize in early spring by applying a slow release fertilizer specialized for trees & shrubs. Follow the label for recommended rate of application.

Uses: Groupings or masses, perennial or shrub borders, specimen, screens or hedges, mixed container, cut flowers.

Join us July 24th and 25th at the Rosendale Street Festival!

The Victoria Gardens Display will be set up on the corner of Main Street and Snyder. Stop by and say hello.

Clethra ‘Pink Spire’: As sweet as roses, but better.

Clethra ‘Pink Spire’

Blooms July through August, soft pink, fragrant cone-shaped flowers. Oh, and what a fragrance! As sweet as roses, but more potent, and certainly less trouble. You will love this plant. Very low maintenance, deciduous shrub can take full sun to part shade, and can tolerate moist soils, even wetlands or pondside. Grows 6’ by 6’ in maturity. Attracts bees and butterflies.